Salads or No, Cheap Burgers Revive McDonald's - New York Times: "On a recent afternoon at McDonald's in Union Square in Manhattan, Chris Rivera and Shamell Jackson reviewed the menu, which includes a variety of healthy options, including salad and fruit. Then they each ordered the usual: two McChicken sandwiches from the Dollar Menu, fries and a McFlurry shake.

Salads are not among the items on this Dollar Menu at a McDonald's in Philadelphia.

The two 15-year-olds, like many of their classmates at the nearby Washington Irving High School, go to McDonald's often. And it is customers like Mr. Jackson and Ms. Rivera, consistently ordering the cheaper and more fattening items on the menu, who have fueled a remarkable resurgence at McDonald's.

'When I was younger, my mom never used to let me come here,' said Mr. Jackson, standing in a register line 15 deep and filled with teenagers. 'She thought it was nasty. But I've got my own money now.'"